Category: Vanessa

1d: Primary Research

Date: 24/10/16

Time: 12:00 pm

Location: Home

Interviewee: Veronica Yako

Interviewee, Veronica Yako, is a third year Law and Business student who currently juggles a heavy work load of two degrees, a part time job, and a semi-thriving social life. The point of direction for this interview was to understand Veronica’s Sleep schedule and what her opinions where on the future and the future of sleep. Initially Veronica seemed nervous, when I asked her why, her response was that she had never really thought about the future enough for someone too take notes of her thoughts and accumulate them into a written work. I assured her that she would be fine and there’s no wrong answers just speculative opinions.

The interview began by discussing her average daily schedule including that of sleep.  As described by Veronica, her daily schedule consists of forcing herself up in the morning at 6 am, be at University by 7am. Try and sit through the hour long lecture and follow that with a two-hour tutorial. After that she makes her way too work for the rest off the day. Comes home, makes time for her best friend, studies a little bit, and Netflix binges till 1 am. Repeat. I was astonished as to why this sentence sounded as tiring when she was speaking it, with no pauses or deep inhales. This truly signified how jam-packed her days can be.

I then began too ask her how she can do everything she does in one day but only have an average of 5 hours sleep. Veronica didn’t hesitate too answer, it was quiet simple for her to do so, ‘I’m just used too it’. Veronica and myself then went into deep discussion about the process of sleep and her body clock was adjusted to something it shouldn’t be, and she cannot go through all sleep cycles per usual which involve storage, maintenance ad creativity.

After that, I asked Veronica too describe the future in three words, her answer was ‘robots, gadgets and mystery. Such answers are generic so I asked her how she would like too see her future, which got her thinking more imaginatively. Her response was that she would like too see a shift from the advancements of biotechnological weaponry and focus more on the ability of technology too help people. Veronica’s background in law, in particular studying about the human condition has in a way she said opened her eyes to the treatment of migrants and displaced people in society as despicable. Veronica suggested that biotechnology in the future should raise the quality of life by healing, enhancing and producing products that do so.

In specific, she brought up Jacque Fresco’s theory of the Venus Project which is modelled around the idea of living in a circular form, in which status isn’t reality and everyone lives equally. The organic nature of this living is also expressed in the way that the societies are self efficient with gardens and water in which monetary values isn’t used rather bartering.

I found this very interesting as I had never come across this work and so I asked her how she thinks this way of living could be integrated with sleep, considering her experience with sleep as well. Veronica suggested that because the way of life within that speculative society was  not stressful due to equality too all regarding housing, resources and quality of life that no one would have the need to toss and turn at night and have a successful and rested night of sleeping. Veronica felt as though if she didn’t have the mounted stress of trying to work part time while studying two degree’s and trying to live by fitting in a social life, she wouldn’t be so strained and not be able to fall asleep appropriately.

1c: A review of a future scenario: I am Legend.

I am legend is a post-apocalyptic horror film directed by Francis Lawrence which proposes the dystopian scenario of hopelessness in the human race after a man made virus breaks out, mutating the humans and causing them to turn into zombie like cannibal predators. Will Smith play’s the protagonist, Dr. Robert Neville, and the movie follows his story in finding the cure for the virus using his immune blood. Will Smith’s character is continuously trying to over come death, trying to survive daily to find the hidden camp filled with healthy citizens to pass on the cure.

The movie takes place in Los Angeles and the buildings are recognisable as they are today, increasing the believability of the movie. However, due to the post-apocalyptic setting of the movie, the city has been left deserted and ghostly, with overgrowing weeds killing the city and animals roaming free. This allows us to believe the story line as we are visually welcomed with a decaying city that has become a killing zone for the infected. CGI has been utilised to portray the infected too make them look realistic with grey, cold blooded skin and vampire like fangs, and the costumes worn by the non infected consist of more functional clothing such as military style boots and comfort clothing so they are ready for any situation. Also, in the movie, weaponry on the non infected has become a norm as they battle against the infected, to survive.

The probability of such scenario taking hold in the distant future is something that may be in the bounds of happening. As advancements in the sciences and technology are becoming more powerful and innovative, they can also become destructive if misused in sinister ways. As stated above, the problem that had occurred in I am legend was the misuse of a deadly man made virus that had been administered as a potential cure for cancer. Along the same lines, as we are becoming a more interlinked and complex society, such vulnerable future security risk and health epidemics are growing. The field of biotechnology in which the cure was made in the movie was in a controlled scientific environment, however, as Wittes states, the “widely disseminated, and accessible bio knowledge and materials to the public that requires readily available training, brings the danger of leveraging such technology as destructive power.” (p. 25), thus making possibility of destroying the human race very high. Such likely situation would not be undertaken in a controlled situation as such in the movie, however, small collectives in objection to authority or social propaganda, making an attack more imminent and purposefully sinister.

Social:

  • Deserted cities, either everyone has become infected or the non infected have run and hidden away in a secret safe zone.
  • Will Smith’s character is still in the infected zone, stuck within the proximity of his home with his wife and son.
    • Isolated
  • Social classes do not exist. All who have survived are working together, however, authority is maintained by army.
  • Extremely strict and secretive lifestyle for the people hidden away to survive.
    • No more luxuries
    • Strict portions
    • More routines
  • Will Smith’s character can go looking for food and supplies during the day but at night has to stay indoors, away from the infected.
  • The infected work as groups to hunt, however can easily turn on one another.
  • Guns and weaponry on persons has become a norm.

Technological:

  • Advancement in biotechnology i.e. the cancer treatment
  • This advancement was also the downfall as it was misused and had destroyed humanity
  • Will Smith’s character is still utilizing the biotechnology to find a cure for the problem in his home laboratory
  • New technologies in the secret camp to help fight against the virus.

Environmental:

  • Deserted city
  • Overgrown plants on streets and buildings
  • Monuments crumbling
  • Ghostly feel in city
  • Masses of cars piled on streets broken down and rusted from trying to get away from the virus.
  • Buildings and tunnel networks with dark shady spots occupied by the infected as they can’t go out in the sun.

Economic:

  • No identifiable economic structure
  • External world is at a stand still
  • No monetary systems
  • Rations and bartering of supplies between the survivors
  • Jobs only refer to the daily tasks of gathering food and supplies

Political:

  • No apparent political figures and structures
  • Security and protection is at a high in the secret zone
  • Army in place too keep order in the secret zone

Reference:

1b: How is technology culturally specific?

The definition of what I believe technology is, is the application of human knowledge and materials to construct mechanisms to help with quality of life. Typically, this definition is reminiscent of new high tech gadgets such as iPhone’s and massive factory machines. However as Ihde states, technology can be defined from the genesis of time and the definition can be expanded to the use of found technologies. Ihde describes found technologies as ‘A stick picked up and used as a club, or a broken gourd used as a container by a pre-historical man or woman’ and challenge the definition of technologies as highly industrialised and technical appliances and tools.

Technology is also variant specific to culture and societies that they are found within. This is due to the influences of society in which the technologies were made for such as the advancements in knowledge regarding the development capacity and also the intention behind the technologies whether that be for better or for worse.

As an example, this can be seen as far back as in the tenth century when the Chinese invented black powder technologies, a mixture of charcoal, sulfur and potassium nitrate for fireworks used in celebratory traditions. Black powder wasn’t used for weaponry or war purpose until the Europeans around the thirteenth century used it for cannons and explosives. Not only was the use of black powder adapted, it also represented the societies that had used it. For the Chinese, it demonstrated their traditional values which brought the community together to celebrate their culture to learn and appreciate. On the other hand, when black powder was applied for weapons of war, it gave a new found advantage for the users as it was more efficient, reliable and deadly. Black powder is still used in present day for mine work, fireworks, guns and many more technologies.

Another example of technology being culturally specific is not the comparison of two cultures with the use of one technology, however ,it is the cultural influence on technology as a global phenomenon. As we advance, as a society, we are driven by our social lives which involves 24/7 accessible and easy to use platform’s to do so. And so, our needs for technology have become centred around this need and therefore we are seeing smaller, thinner and easier to use gadgets such as Apples Iphone’s to fuel this desire, accompanied with the help of Applications and social websites such as Twitter Instagram and Tumblr dictating our social status in society. The realise of the google glass and the apple watch are driving these modes of socialising to the future, as our realities are now being shifted into the online world.

Reference:

  • Ihde, Don 1993, ‘Technology,’ Philosophy of Technology: An introduction, New York: Paragon House, pp.47-64

1a: Relationships between sleep, property and housing

Firstly, to define property against housing, I understand it as the difference between ownership of a home. Too expand, Property is defined as the possession of a home, which would have been legally purchased by an individual. Housing on the other hand is defined as collective houses and flats, that share land and may be rented out, Nevertheless, sleep is performed and majority of the time taken place on a bed within a room, but factors that contribute to the individual settings are responsible for varying outcomes of sleep.

The relationship between sleep and property is very important as it dictates the quality of rested time an individual has, and therefore, their wellbeing. Security in where you live is by far the most important factor which contributes to an individuals sleeping cycle. Too expand, because ‘property’ is bought, psychological stressors associated with insufficient sleep won’t occur, therefore, living a mentally healthy life. However, if an individual’s financial status is not stable at the time, the stressors of paying of a mortgage and bills may in fact provoke property insecurity, a negative impact to someone’s psychological state such as stress and fatigue due to restless sleep.

On the other hand, the relationship between sleep and housing insecurities would be largely different, as individuals that seek homes to rent out may be financially unstable or their situation is unpredicted due to chain of events. Nevertheless, it is appropriate to deduce that individuals that are experiencing such problems, may show signs of restless sleep and fatigue due to the amount of stress on them and therefore resulting in a poor quality of life.

Another factor which contributes to both the relationships between sleep, property and housing, are internal and external factors. Too expand, the context in which an individuals home is set, whether that be communal or private, external factors such as noisy neighbour’s, placement near major roads or too much light pollution increases broken sleep. Internal sources of light within someone’s home can also attribute to chronic sleep deficiency. This concept is explored through SBS’s Insight show, in which they investigated the problem of overridden body clocks due to white light that emits from technology such as mobile phones and TV’s. With 79% of Australians now owning mobile phones, it is appropriate to deduce that on average more than one mobile is present in an Australian home, therefore, effecting a variety of individuals with broken sleep. On the show, they broke down the affects of blue light, in which melatonin levels change in the body, sleep becomes broken which affects the three cycles of sleep important for maintenance and creativity, and transient global amnesia may occur.

Reference:

  • Deloitte, ‘Mobile Consumer Survey 2015- The Australian Cut‘, 2015, accessed 10/10/16,< http://landing.deloitte.com.au/rs/761-IBL-328/images/deloitte-au-tmt-mobile-consumer-survey-2015-291015.pdf >
  • Insight, Episode 14, ‘Sleep’, accessed 10/10/16,< http://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/video/674210371926/insight-sleep >

China | Technology

  • 9th most innovative country in g20
  • Overpopulated, more resources used and needed, more pollution esp. in air:
    • Alternative vehicles
      • Improved Urban Air Quality
      • Reduced Greenhouse Gas Emissions
  • Elevated bus
    • The Transit Elevated Bus
    • The bus drives on the road, over the cars
    • Decreases congestion, less private cars on roads, less emissions + pollution
    • Carry 1,200 people
  • Nuclear
    • intercontinental missile df-41
    • hitting London in 16 minuets and new York in 20
    • +30,000kmh
    • 2019-20?

Vanessa

1b: Human Technology Relationships

Can-Technology-And-Humanity-Continue-To-Coexist

Image: http://www.lidtime.com/can-technology-and-humanity-continue-to-coexist/

Technology is the application of knowledge to produce machinery and devices that are expected to change quality of life, whether that be good or bad. The genesis of the great technological breakthrough, I believe, was the start of the industrial revolution (18-19th century) in which Great Britain capitalised globally through the roll over of innovative machinery. Such advancements at the time regarding elementary employment of technology was highly evident in the textiles and agricultural sectors which were only present at the factories.

However, advancements in technology throughout the decades have been incorporated within our daily and personal lives through robotics and computer systems because of greater innovation, accessibility and reliability. Therefore, I believe we have entered a robot reality life, which will be followed by cyborg reality. Too expand, robotics, which is defined as ‘machines capable of carrying out complex series of actions’, as seen in everyday items such as smart phones and computers, are evolving into a highly more sophisticated innovation that are starting to take on human characteristics and think more independently. An example of this, is the development of ‘Atlas’, a humanoid robot developed by Boston Dynamics. Atlas was designed as a responder to dangerous situations such as nuclear meltdowns. Characteristics of this robot include that of ‘sensing its environment, but can also react to it with a dexterity not yet seen in an android robot’.

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Image: http://laughingsquid.com/the-darpa-robotics-challenge-2013-trials/

I believe the future of robotics will develop into cyborgs, where in the future we will definitely see innovations that includes installing artificial accessories to enhance humans. As Roy Woodhead suggests, technology has influenced our life choices without realising, as we tend to lose sight of our ‘human connectedness as we are dictated by artificial system collectives’. Similarly to the novel, do androids dream of electric sheep?,  futurist and inventor Ray Kurzweil explores and advocates the prediction of the ‘transfer of our minds from fallible, disease prone neurobiology to machines’ with the replacement of neurons with electronic chips, turning our minds into intelligence that is about one billion times more powerful. So the arguments that arise in regards to our ethical and moral compass are huge as the ‘post human’ will choose not to exercise empathy, as we will loose the essence of simple human to human connectedness and potentially, some day develop a conflict. (Agar, 2010, pg. 225)

terminator-genisys-arnold-schwarzenegger-625x350

Image: http://www.geek.com/news/terminator-genisys-popularity-in-china-might-translate-into-sequel-1632055/

 

REFRENCES:

  • Kurzweil, R. 2005. The singularity is near: When humans transcend biology. London: Penguin.
  • Agar, N. 2010. Humanity’s end: Why we should reject radical enhancement. Cambridge MA: MIT Press.

 

Vanessa